Fire Lord Azula
by gossip stone
Summary: Fire Lord Azula. It had a nice ring to it, if she did say so herself.


Disclaimer: I do not own _Avatar: the Last Airbender._

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><p>Fire Lord Azula. It had a nice ring to it, if she did say so herself.<p>

Of course, Azula didn't need to say it. She had other, lesser people to do things like that for her.

During the final battle with her wayward brother, Azula had strategically examined every option available to her. The girl. The Waterbender. The healer. If she took the peasant down, Zuko would be defenseless. Once the comet had passed, the princess would be able to wear him away little by little, until he was defeated. And then she would be Fire Lord. Ruler of the Fire Nation, unsurpassed in power by no one, except her father.

And so she struck. It was really quite simple. Moving her arms slowly, feeling the electric pulse thud in her veins, Azula had bent the lightning, harnessed it, and sent it straight for the other girl, the sweet taste of victory already on her tongue.

The brunette fell like a rag doll, her bright blue eyes wide. She hit the smooth, granite surface of the courtyard with a thud; Zuko letting out a strangled yelp at the sight. Azula smirked, already seeking her brother with her cat-like golden eyes.

In one swift motion, she had him down, a flickering ring of fire engulfing him steadily. The former prince swore loudly, trying to fight it off, but in one second, Azula had it ended. She was finished with him and their uncle, who, no doubt, was once again losing in Ba Sing Se. She watched silently as Zuko was burned alive, ignoring his silence-how _dare_ he be silent? - And then put out the fire. The runner up to the throne stared at the charred remains of her brother, a bitter satisfaction coursing through her. She had shown him. He was done for, a mere memory in the past, and Azula would build a new empire on his bones.

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><p>Her coronation came and went; truthfully, she didn't care so much for the celebration itself. Nobody-aside from her maids and the sages- had been there, and that was just the way she had wanted it. Ty Lee and Mai could rot in the prison she had placed them in. Her father had destroyed the Avatar and his allies, crushing them with the all-consuming fire that dominated their lives. When Ozai had heard of his successor's accomplishments, he had sent her a very brief letter by hawk. <em>Well done,<em> the scroll read. No signature, only those two words.

Azula cherished them the way a teenage girl would hold her idol's autograph dear to her heart.

Life in the Fire Nation during those days was rather dismal; the economy had plummeted after the Earth Nation, home of lush, arable land, had been reduced to ashes. Azula maintained her luxurious lifestyle, however, insisting on the finest foods prepared by the most skilled chefs. Any less, and the staff ran the threat of being banished to the wasteland that was once the largest and most populous of the nations.

Every once in awhile, she would go see the two women who had betrayed her. Mai remained mute throughout these visits, her face stony, her back often facing her supreme ruler unless commanded to gaze at her magnificence. Even then she would only stare impassively at her one time best friend, now enemy and lord. Azula loved the power she had over the nobleman's daughter and tried to exert it often.

Ty Lee was a special case, though. Azula had always thought her very pretty, and she had even envied the girl for it. In prison she was still, somehow, beautiful. Her light hair was unkempt, as convicts did not bathe as regularly as the wealthy were used to, but it shone in the sunlight. Ty Lee, much like Mai, did not speak. She glared reproachfully at Azula, her full bottom lip peeking out. The Fire Lord felt a tiny twinge in her chest at this. Surely Ty Lee understood why she had done those things? If one wished to rise to the top, they could never have backstabbers in their midst. It was logical- but, logic had never been a driving force in Ty Lee's decisions.

So she spoke to her friend in a low, even voice. "Look, Ty," Azula said, her voice scratchy from disuse. She offered a regal hand, but the other woman disregarded it. "I only did this to you because you protected someone who tried to kill me." She could hear the desperate tone in her voice as she plowed on. "That's _heresy. _But, Mai's gone now, and maybe…" She reached the hand through the thick metal bars, trying in vain to touch Ty Lee, who flinched away, and, ultimately, turned her back to her. Just like Mai.

Azula's temper flared, much like the fire she created. Standing up, the Fire Lord screamed, the harsh words leaving her mouth in a rush.

"Fine! _Fine! _I don't need you! I never needed you! All you could ever do was immobilize people! You never had the flair for ruling or the _wits_ to know how to do any of the things I did! I conquered _The Impenetrable City-_" she spat the words as if they were something unclean, something too foul to leave the mouth of one of such a high position as she, "-when I was _fourteen! Fourteen!_ And what were you doing at fourteen?"

Ty Lee's shoulders hunched forward, but still she did not speak.

"That's right!" Azula mocked her. "You were out whoring around, shaming your family. You ran away to the circus. You're nothing but a side-show freak! What would your mother say if she saw you today?"

Turning so sharply on her heel that she nearly twisted her ankle, Azula strode to the exit, fully intent on going to the executioner to have hell rain down on this girl. As the thick iron door swung shut, she almost missed the words that Ty Lee said in a soft, sad voice.

"What would _your_ mother say, Azula?"

Almost.

For the next few weeks, Azula barricaded herself in her royal chamber. Her father was dying. The man had fulfilled his purpose in life; he was only supposed to end the century-long war, and then someone new, someone with fresh blood and fresh ideas, would take over the throne.

Someone like Azula.

But Ty Lee's words mocked her. Azula had hardly known her mother. Now a woman of twenty-three, she hadn't seen the blasted woman in sixteen years. If her mother were to come back to her, crawling on her hands and knees, Azula would not hesitate to spit in her face. She had left when her daughter was but a child, and she had no right to come back at such a late date. Her mother's opinion was of little importance to Azula.

But still… She remembered the days when she would observe her mother, with her older brother, feeding the turtleducks. The overwhelming jealousy she felt was worsened whenever her mother insisted that Zuko sit beside her at dinner, that Zuko go to town with her, that Zuko practice his calligraphy in her chambers. Zuko, Zuko, _Zuko._

Waking up one morning and finding her mother gone-no note, no message, _nothing for her, for Azula-_ was a knife shoved deep into her rib cage, piercing her heart. Especially when she discovered that Zuko, the _favorite,_ had known their mother left.

And nobody thought to tell the princess.

With a sharp cry of anguish, Azula launched herself at her mirror, driving her fist into the reflective glass. She didn't cry when the shards penetrated her skin, causing the warm liquid to flow. She only hit it again, and again, and again…

Once her father was dead, she would show them. She would show them they had thought wrong of her. She was a firebending prodigy, for Agni's sake. How dare they underestimate her! All these thoughts flooded her head and ran over each other, fighting for dominance as she unleashed a decade and a half of hate and misery on the gilded mirror in the corner of her room. Finally, with one last scream, she grabbed the golden frame, the metal twisting and bubbling as the fire her hands were now wrapped in caught it and caused it to melt.

And then she examined her hand, the flawless surface marred by the crimson. It was throbbing painfully, and Azula had no illusions about it. It would scar, leaving her beautiful skin as devastated as the Earth Kingdom. Her breath came in quick gasps, and she rested her sweaty forehead against the cool stone wall, allowing the overflowing tears to cascade down her cheeks, leaving rivulets along the dirty surface.

There she stood, waiting for someone to come patch her up.

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><p>"How is she?" whispered the young woman to the nurse that was currently escorting her down the labyrinthine corridors, making quick rights and lefts and opening doors briskly, never slowing her pace. Ty Lee had to race to keep up, and in her condition, it was not something her doctor would be ecstatic about.<p>

The nurse sighed. "She seems to be regressing. You know how she's been lately…" Ty Lee nodded. The former princess of the Fire Nation, now mentally unstable (if she had ever been stable) had been screaming at all hours lately, her golden eyes unseeing whenever Ty Lee came to visit her. She would lie on the floor of her cell, curled up in a ball, whimpering and cursing at things the former acrobat could only guess at. "Well," the nurse continued, mercifully slowing down as they neared their destination, "one of the orderlies found her in her cell the other day, her entire left arm covered in blood." Ty Lee sucked in a horrified gasp. "She had been punching her wall repeatedly, and she broke her bones into teeny, tiny, little shards. The doctors had a hell of a time setting them, what with her screaming and carrying on…"

The nurse inhaled, stopping in front of a door. She eyed the other woman, glancing at her stomach. "You want a bodyguard or something in here? I'm not sure it's very safe-"

"No," Ty Lee interrupted. "Please. I have to do this. I… we were friends."

The nurse nodded understandingly, placing one hand on Ty Lee's shoulder. "If she gets violent, or… you know, _odd_, you call for somebody, okay, ma'am?" Ty Lee nodded shortly, turning to face the door. Then, after preparing herself mentally for whatever horrors awaited within, she pushed open the door.

Azula, surprisingly, was calm. Calm for her, at least. Ty Lee assumed they had done some new psychotherapy trick on her, trying to make her lucid and bring her back from whatever hallucinations she had been living for the past three years or so. The princess lay prostrate on a cot in the center of the room, the metal cuffs that had once bound her to the ground long since removed. They had placed her in a type of jacket that bound her arms to her sides, in an attempt to keep her from injuring herself once more. Ty Lee knew Azula, and she knew that if she wanted to, she would find some alternative way to hurt herself. She was just that stubborn.

Treading lightly, Ty Lee put her hands out in front of her in a placating gesture, trying to show the woman she meant no harm. It was only when she was right beside her that she realized her friend was in a fitful sleep, twitching and snarling alternately.

Kneeling down, Ty Lee stroked the thick raven hair that fell down her friend's back. It was dull, holding none of the luster that Ty Lee remembered it having back when they were children; but then, Ty Lee thought sadly, Azula still took care of herself then. She rubbed circles on her back gently, with all the care of a mother. Then, she spoke, using a soothing tone she had adopted with the children in her apartment complex.

"I'm sorry that Mai didn't come. But, you know how she is… She's not willing to let go of a grudge so easily, even though I tell her it's been five years since then, but you wouldn't know that…

"I can't hate you anymore, Azula. I know I was always the bubbly, ditzy one, and you only wanted me for the things I could do for you… But, do you remember when we were, what, six?" Ty Lee smiled dreamily.

"You were still fairly normal then, and we went to Ember Island with your family. We slept in the same room, and we stayed up all night, telling stories and harassing Zuko." She giggled. "I remember that he got so mad at us one night for keeping him up, he just banged on the wall and told us to shut up, but you just banged back and told him he could go sleep outside if we were that bothersome, and not to bother your guest…"

Ty Lee sighed. "I just wanted to see you before my visits become more infrequent. I, well… I'm going to have a lot to take care of in the next couple of months, and I can't take care of you starting then… So I guess I should start making them less and less now…"

Struggling to her feet, Ty Lee gazed at Azula's face. The woman was insane, yes, but if things had turned out differently… Well, it wasn't her job to ponder those things. She had to take care of herself now, and whoever else might come along. With one last mournful look, she bent down, kissing the slumbering woman tenderly on the forehead.

"Sleep, well, Azula," she breathed. Ty Lee turned then and left, not to come back for several more weeks. And then, that was her last visit for years.

Azula stirred in her sleep, her fingers grasping something that wasn't there.

"Mother…" she mumbled, her eyebrows furrowing in distress as the silhouette in her mind's eye grew farther and farther away.

From then on, Azula's sleep was drug-induced, and she dreamed no more.

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><p><em>"Now I'm sitting alone<em>

_I'm finally looking around_

_Left here on my own_

_I'm gonna hurt myself."_

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><p><strong>End Note<strong>: I based Azula's mental state here on the shrieking mess that she was at the end of Sozin's Comet. I think they left it pretty open to interpretation as to how she was after that, and I decided to look at the possible darker side. I think sometime soon I'd like to do another fic expanding on her relationship with Ty Lee, as she was obviously closer to her than she was to Mai (at least, to me. I haven't watched an episode of _Avatar_ in about a year and a half), and I think her betrayal definitely hurt her more than Mai's. Oh, and they were about twenty years old in the end, give or take a few months.

Reviews are appreciated.


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